Implement UBEC Act 2004, LEDAP urges FG

The Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) has asked the federal government to implement the right to universal free basic education for every Nigerian child particularly the girl child.

LEDAP, in a statement by its Programs Manager, Pamela Okoroigwe said as Nigeria celebrates International Day of Education, with the theme of this year as, “Changing Course, Transforming Education”, called for the nurturing of the fundamental rights of every individual, most especially the right to education with emphasis on the role of education in peace and development.

The statement said, the right to basic education is a fundamental human right contained in chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

LEDAP had, in suit numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/978/2015 obtained a judgment from the Federal High Court affirming that by enacting the Universal Basic Education Act (UBE), the National Assembly has made the right to universal basic education an enforceable and justiciable right.

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Notwithstanding this recognition, the statement said, actualization of the right to basic education is bedeviled by issues such as low enrolment of children particularly the girl child, high rate of school dropout, shortage and poor-quality infrastructures in schools such as classrooms, water, electricity, toilets and other educational facilities.

These challenges have been intensified with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, rising insecurity and school kidnappings, saying that girls account for 60% of Nigeria’s 10 million out of school children mostly due to barriers like child marriages, poverty and discrimination. A 2019 assessment report from a survey conducted by LEDAP on the barriers to education rights for children in 4 northern states, found that there exists a common apathy towards the education of the girl-child, in addition to other factors ranging from economic to cultural.

“In line with our dedication to promoting education rights through legal and policy advocacy, LEDAP is implementing a project titled Raising Awareness on the Right to Free and Quality Basic Education in Nigeria. This project seeks to provide solutions to low enrolment of the girl child and ensuring that state governments take appropriate actions to promote free and quality basic education for all, especially girls.

“Under this project, LEDAP have embarked on awareness campaigns and conducted advocacy visits to relevant stakeholders to increase awareness on the need for safe, free and quality education”, she said and added that the organization have also trained over 100 paralegals in Adamawa, Bauchi, Kaduna and Kano states to raise awareness on the UBE Act and fight for the rights of out of school children and urged the Nigerian government to ensure effective implementation of the UBE Act and increase budgetary allocation for education.